Let it rain, let it rain!

While I am not a big fan of any official holiday, I count every rainy day as a real little holiday - time to supercharge! And never miss to admire and celebrate it with a quick barefoot running or walking. I've always liked this kind of weather, especially in the spring, when the rain makes the new colors even more intense and it smells amazing, but before I used to spent these days inside. That changed after several times when some heavy rain caught me somewhere in the middle of nowhere in nature, far from any shelter. In these cases I just started running as fast as I could, dreaming to reach my car as soon as possible. It took me a while to notice how great I was feeling afterwards and to connect it with the rain. The explanation is simple - the abundance of health-giving negative ions in the air makes you feel amazing. It literally washes every worry or negative emotion and the effect is even stronger if you are barefoot.

Imagine my disappointment now - the forecast predicted rain for almost everyday this week, but it rained guess how many times - 0... I am still waiting. Wish me rain, please. Anyway I have a rain story to accompany my rain photos from the previous week.

Last spring I was in the same situation - 5 km away from my car, on a pathway in the woods, I was listening to some podcast and was deeply engaged with it, not paying much attention how it was getting darker and darker. It began with a slight rain, I turned around(still walking slowly and still listening) and some man startled me passing by me in a hurry.

The rain was slowly becoming stronger and I saw this man a couple of times, just standing on one spot, and as he noticed me coming he continued. Generally I am never scared to be outside alone in the woods and in the mountains
(especially from the people I meet), neither I was that time, but he looked a little strange and creepy, and I was wondering why he was stopping and waiting for me. Finally I got it that it was time to run, as the rain turned into a real downpour. I was already close to my car with less than a kilometer left when I saw him again under a bower, waiting for me again. It turned out that he was quite worried for me, because I was without shoes and he was afraid that I could be easily hit by a thunder/lighting, so he was really waiting for me to see if everything is alright. And he even offered me his shoes! It was funny, but I was really touched because he looked really sincere in his concern and kindness. He told me "People die so easily, don't go like that". Anyway I continued to run, got back to my car, just changed my super wet clothes, and he also showed up and I offered him a ride, because he had around 3 km more to the bus station. I always meet really nice people when I go in the mountains :)

And my last rain walk a week ago.